3. DESCRIPTION

layman is a script that allows you to add, remove, re-add,
update, disable, and then re-enable Gentoo overlays from a variety
of sources.

3.1. WARNING

layman makes it easy to retrieve and update overlays for Gentoo.
In addition it makes it TRIVIAL to break your system.

The Gentoo main tree provides you with high quality ebuilds that
are all maintained by Gentoo developers. This will not be the case
for most of the overlays you can get by using layman. Thus you
are removing the security shield that the standard tree provides
for you. You should keep that in mind when installing ebuilds from
an overlay.

To ensure the security of your system you MUST read the source of
the ebuild you are about to install.

4. OPTIONS

4.1. ACTIONS

List of possible layman actions.

-aOVERLAY, --add=OVERLAY

Add the given overlay from the cached remote list to your
locally installed overlays. Specify "ALL" to add all overlays
from the remote list.

-dOVERLAY, --delete=OVERLAY

Remove the given overlay from your locally installed overlays.
Specify "ALL" to remove all overlays.

-DOVERLAY, --disable=OVERLAY

Disable the given overlay from portage. Specify "ALL" to disable
all installed overlays.

Fetches the remote list of overlays. You will usually NOT need
to explicitly specify this option. The fetch operation will be
performed automatically once you run the sync, sync-all, or list action.
You can prevent this automatic fetching using the --nofetch option.

-iOVERLAY, --info=OVERLAY

Display all available information about the specified overlay.

-L, --list

List the contents of the remote list.

-l, --list-local

List the locally installed overlays.

-n, --nofetch

Prevents layman from automatically fetching the remote lists
of overlays. The default behavior for layman is to update all
remote lists if you run the sync, list or fetch operation.

-pLEVEL, --priority=LEVEL

Use this option in combination with the --add.

make.conf::
It will modify the priority of the added overlay and thus influence
the order of entries in the make.conf file. The lower the priority,
the earlier in the list the entry will be mentioned in the make.conf.

repos.conf::
It will modify the priority in the repos.conf file, and thus influence
the portage overlay priority. Read man portage for more details on
overlay priority.
Use a value between 0 and 100. The default value is 50.

-rOVERLAY, --readd=OVERLAY

Remove and re-add the given overlay from the cached
remote list to your locally installed overlays. Specify "ALL" to
re-add all local overlays.

-sOVERLAY, --sync=OVERLAY

Update the specified overlay. Use "ALL" as parameter to
synchronize all overlays.

-S, --sync-all

Update all overlays. Shortcut for -s ALL.

4.2. PATH OPTIONS

List of available layman path options.

-cPATH, --config=PATH

Path to an alternative configuration file.

-CPATH, --configdir=PATH

Directory path for all layman configuration information.

-oURL, --overlays=URL

Specifies the location of additional overlay lists. You can use
this flag several times and the specified URLs will get temporarily
appended to the list of URLs you specified in your config file.
You may also specify local file URLs by prepending the path with
file://. This option will only append the URL for this specific
layman run - edit your config file to add a URL permanently.
So this is useful for testing purposes.

-OPATH, --overlay_defsPATH

Path to additional overlay.xml files.

4.3. OUTPUT OPTIONS

List of layman output options.

--debug-levelDEBUG_LEVEL

Outputs layman debugging information. The lower the debug level,
the less debugging information you’ll get. Use a value between 0
and 10. 0 means no debugging information, 10 selects all debugging
messages. The default debug level is 4.

-k, --nocheck

When listing remote overlays (using -L or --list) layman
no longer hides overlays, for which you lack the tools to use.
By default, layman hides Git repositories if you do not have Git
installed. Same applies to Subversion, CVS and so forth.

Prevents layman from checking the remote lists of overlays for
complete overlay definitions. The default behavior for layman is
to reject overlays that do not provide a description or a contact
attribute.

-N, --nocolor

Remove color codes from the layman output.

-q, --quiet

Makes layman completely quiet. In quiet mode child processes
will be run with stdin closed to avoid running into infinite and
blindly interactive sessions. Thus a child process may abort once
it runs into an situation with need for human interaction.
For example this might happen if your overlay resides in Subversion
and the SSL certificate of the server needs manual acceptance.

-QLEVEL, --quietness=LEVEL

Makes layman less verbose. Choose a value between 0 and 4
with 0 being completely quiet. Once you set this below 3,
the same warning as given for --quiet applies.

-v, --verbose

Makes layman more verbose and you will receive a description of
the overlays you can download.

-WWIDTH, --widthWIDTH

Sets the screen width. This setting is usually not required as layman
is capable of detecting the available number of columns automatically.

4.4. ADDITIONAL OPTIONS

--protocol_filterPROTOCOL

Sets the protocol filter that determines which protocols will be used
when adding overlays or updating their source URLs.

5. CONFIGURATION

Directory that will be used to store the overlays and all
additional data layman needs. The default is /var/lib/layman.
layman uses a location within the /usr/portage hierarchy
instead of /var in order to store its data. This decision has
been made to support network file systems. If you have your
Gentoo tree on NFS or a similar file system and several
machines access the same ebuild repository over the net it
will be necessary to also provide all necessary layman data
within the hierarchy of the tree. This way the overlays will
also have to be synced at one location only.

cache

layman will store the downloaded global list of overlays here.
The default is %(storage)s/cache.xml.

installed

layman will store the list of installed overlays here.
The default is %(storage)s/installed.xml.

make.conf

This is the portage configuration file that layman will
modify in order to make the new overlays available within
portage. The default is %(storage)s/make.conf. You could
also specify /etc/portage/make.conf directly. But that would mean
that you have an external program trying to automatically
set variables within this very central configuration file.
Since I consider that dangerous I prefer having a very small
external file that only contains the setting for
PORTDIR_OVERLAY. This file is then sourced at the end of
/etc/portage/make.conf. This is the reason why layman suggests running
the following after it has been installed.

echo 'source /var/lib/layman/make.conf' >> /etc/portage/make.conf

overlays

Specifies the URL for the remote list of all available overlays.
The default is https://api.gentoo.org/overlays/repositories.xml.
You can specify several URLs here (one per line). The contents will
get merged to a single list of overlays. This allows to add a personal
collection of overlays that are not present in the global list.

proxy

Specify your proxy in case you have to use one.

nocheck

Set to "yes" if layman should stop worrying about overlays
with missing a contact address or the description.

clean_archive

Set to "yes" if layman will delete archive files downloaded
when installing archive type overlays. This option is only
applicable to remote archive overlays. layman will leave the
reponsibility of deleting local archive files up to the user.
By default, layman will delete downloaded archive files.

check_official

Set to "no" if you don’t want layman to prompt you for consent
during the installation of an unofficial overlay.

Per repository type Add, Sync options.

bzr_addopts
,
bzr_syncopts
,
cvs_addopts
,
cvs_syncopts
,
…

These are a space separated list of command options to include in the commands sent to perform
the desired action.

Per repository type Post Add, Sync hooks.

bzr_postsync
,
cvs_postsync
,
darcs_postsync
,
git_postsync
,
…

These are a space separated list of commands that are run after each add, sync operation if they
are defined.

5.1. DATABASE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

layman now supports multiple database types for layman’s install file. The
options allowed include: xml, json, and sqlite. While xml is the default
database type you may migrate from one database type to the other using the
layman-updater tool while supplying the -m flag, followed by the database
type you’d like to use.

5.2. REPO CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

layman now accepts multiple repository config file options. One being the
already standard make.conf option and the other being the repos.conf files
that can be placed in /etc/portage/repos.conf/. The below configuration options
allow you to alter particular things regarding the repository configuration::

conf_type::
Specifies the repo configuration type you wish to use. This can
be repos.conf, make.conf, or both separated by a comma. The
default value is repos.conf.

require_repoconfig::
Defines whether a configuration file is needed for the package
manager or other multi-repository consumer application.

repos_conf::
Specifies the path to the config file for all repos.conf
configuration. The default location is
/etc/portage/repos.conf/layman.conf.

6. HANDLING OVERLAYS

layman intends to provide easy maintenance of Gentoo overlays
while not requiring any configuration.

6.1. OVERLAY LISTS

layman allows you to fetch an overlay without the need to modify
any configuration files. In order for this to be possible the script
needs an external list of possible overlay sources. There is a
centralized list available at
https://api.gentoo.org/overlays/repositories.xml
but nothing will prevent you from using or publishing your own
list of overlays. The location of the remote lists can also be
modified using the --overlays option when running layman.

To get a new overlay added to the central list provided for layman,
send a mail to <overlays@gentoo.org>. Gentoo developers may add their
overlay entries directly into the list which can be accessed over the
CVS repository for the Gentoo website.

You can also use several lists at the same time. Just add one URL per
line to the overlays variable in your configuration file. layman
will merge the contents of all lists.

layman also allows you to define local files in this list.
Just make sure you prepend these path names in standard URL notation with file://.
layman also gives you the ability to just add an overlay definition to /etc/layman/overlays/some-overlay.xml and it will be automatically available for actions such as
add, delete, info… (see below for file format details)

If you need to use a proxy for access to the Internet, you can use
the corresponding variable in the layman configuration file.
layman will also respect the http_proxy environment variable in case you set it.

6.2. FILTERING PROTOCOL URLS

When adding an overlay or updating its source URL you can specify which
protocols you wish to use. Examples of this include http://, git://, and
https://.

To filter these protocols on a system-wide level you may alter the
protocol_filter variable in your layman configuration file.

Otherwise, you may specify which protocols you would prefer to be filtered out
on a per-run basis using the --protocol_filter flag.

Using this filtering will ensure that no other protocols other than the ones
specified will be used. Meaning that if an overlay does not support any of
the specified protocols, it will not install.

6.3. LOCAL CACHE

layman stores a local copy of the fetched remote list.
It will be stored in /var/lib/layman/cache.xml by default.
There exists only one such cache file and it will be overwritten
every time you run layman.

6.4. HANDLING /ETC/PORTAGE/MAKE.CONF

Since layman is designed to automatically handle the inclusion of
overlays into your system it needs to be able to modify the
PORTDIR_OVERLAY variable in your /etc/portage/make.conf file.
But /etc/portage/make.conf is a very central and essential configuration
file for a Gentoo system. Automatically modifying this file would
be somewhat dangerous. You can allow layman to do this by
setting the make_conf variable in the configuration file to
/etc/portage/make.conf.

A much safer and in fact recommended solution to the problem is
to let layman handle an external file that only contains the
PORTDIR_OVERLAY variable and is sourced within the standard
/etc/portage/make.conf file. Just add the following line to the end of
your /etc/portage/make.conf file:

source /var/lib/layman/make.conf

/var/lib/layman/make.conf is the default provided in the layman
configuration. Change this file name in case you decide to store
it somewhere else.

The file does not necessarily need to exist at the beginning.
If it is missing, layman will create it for you.

There is also no need to remove the original PORTDIR_OVERLAY
variable from the make.conf file. Layman will simply add new overlays
to this variable and all your old entries will remain in there.

6.5. ADDING, REMOVING AND UPDATING OVERLAYS

Once a remote list of overlays has been fetched, layman allows
to add overlays from the remote list to your system. The script
will try to fetch the overlay. If this is successful the overlay
information will be copied from the cache to the list of locally
installed overlays. In addition layman will modify the
PORTDIR_OVERLAY variable to include the new overlay path.

Removing the overlay with layman will delete the overlay without
leaving any traces behind.

In order to update all overlays managed by layman you can run
the script with the --sync ALL option or the --sync-all flag.

6.6. NEW DISABLING, AND RE-ENABLING OVERLAYS

portage will find installed overlays via your repo config files,
whether it be make.conf or repos.conf. If you wish to hide the
overlay from portage so that the ebuilds will not be accessible
then you can do so with the --disableOVERLAY option. This
will then disable the overlay in your repo configurations.

To re-enable them again so that portage can again access the
ebuilds of that overlay you can simply do so with the
--enableOVERLAY option.

6.7. LIST OVERLAYS

layman provides the -L, --list and -l, --list-local options to print
a list of available respectively installed overlays.

Listing will prepend all fully supported overlays with a green
asterisk, all non-official overlays with a yellow asterisk and
all overlays that you will not be able to use since you do not
have the necessary tools installed with a red asterisk.

In the default mode layman will be strict about listing overlays
and only present you with overlays that are fully supported.
In addition it will complain about overlays that are missing
a description field or a contact attribute. This type of behavior
has been added with layman 1.0.7 and if you’d like to return to
the old behavior you may use the k option flag or set the nocheck
option in the configuration file.

6.8. SEARCHING EBUILDS IN OVERLAYS

You can search through the ebuilds available in the overlays on
http://overlays.gentoo.org/ by using eix. Emerge the package and
run:

update-eix-remote update

Alternatively, you can browse overlays that you have not installed
on http://gpo.zugaina.org/.

6.9. OVERLAY TYPES

Currently layman supports overlays that are exported via rsync,
CVS, subversion, bzr, darcs, git, mercurial, tar
packages, or squashfs images that will be mounted read-only.
It also supports the generated overlay type g-sorcery installed with
the g-cran package (at time of this writing, only available in the science
overlay).

7. OVERLAY LISTS

7.1. OVERLAY LIST FORMAT

Layman uses a central list of overlays in XML format. The file looks
like this:

Users can specify a branch for an overlay, given one actually exists.
This logic is applicable to CVS overlays as well and the branch variable
is comparable to specifying a subpath for a CVS repository.

VCS types where the use of "branch" is supported is as follows

CVS

Squashfs

Tar

Git

Mercurial
However, for CVS, Squashfs, and Tar overlays, the branch will be treated as a
subpath. If you use the branch variable with any other overlay types aside from
the ones listed, it will be ignored.

7.2. ADDING AN OVERLAY LOCALLY

Simply create an overlay list in the format described above and run
layman with the -o switch. You need to prepend local file URLs
with file://. New is the ability to just add an overlay definition like
the above to /etc/layman/overlays/some-overlay.xml and it will be
automatically available for actions such as add, delete, info…

7.3. ADDING AN OVERLAY GLOBALLY

The global list of overlays used by layman lies at
https://api.gentoo.org/overlays/repositories.xml.

All Gentoo developers have access to this location via CVS and
can modify the list of overlays.

If you are not a Gentoo developer but wish to get your overlay
listed you should contact the Gentoo Overlays team at
<overlays@gentoo.org>. You can also join #gentoo-overlays on
irc.freenode.net.

8. EXAMPLES

8.1. INSTALLING AN OVERLAY

layman -f -a wrobel

This would add the overlay with the id wrobel to your list of
installed overlays.

8.2. SYNCING YOUR OVERLAYS

layman -s ALL

This updates all overlays

8.3. PERFORMING SEVERAL ACTIONS AT THE SAME TIME

layman -f -a wrobel webapps-experimental

This fetches the remote list and immediately adds two overlays

9. FILES

/etc/layman/layman.cfg

Configuration file, holding the defaults for layman

/var/lib/layman/make.conf

Configuration file that layman modifies to
register the installed overlay(s) with the package manager

/etc/portage/repos.conf/layman.conf

Configuration file that layman modifies to
register the installed overlay(s) with the package manager